Farrowing crate



M. L. OSBAHR mnnowme CRATE Filed Sept. 15. 1967 May 5, 1970 INVENTOR= MARVIN L. OSBAHR NON NOm United States Patent 3,509,854 FARROWING CRATE Marvin L. Osbahr, Woodbine, Iowa 51579 Filed Sept. 15, 1967, Ser. No. 668,059 Int. Cl. A01k J /02 U.S.v Cl. 119-20 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A farrowing crate for sows having a hinged front door that interlockingly controls the opening of a rearwardly hinged operator access top or lid to assist in the tending of the sow and piglets. The lid is contoured to accommodate the sow in a fixed position.

In the prior art, the operator of an open-topped crate often just stands in the empty center of a crate, from which the sow has been removed, to reach over a side wall into one of the side compartments called .pigcreeps where the baby pigs are, in order to grab the pigs for giving them vaccinations or for other purposes.

Prior art crates have such high side walls for preventing escape of the sow, about 36 or more inches high, that it is inconvenient for the operator to reach thereover to the bottom of a pig-creep area and it is an object of this invention to provide a crate in which the side walls are enough lower as to make such reaching much more convenient.

This invention makes it possible to have the uppermost bar of the side walls very low because my crate has an upper wall or lid which prevents escape of the sowthe lid lbeing quickly movable by swinging up at whichever end a door is opened.

Farrowing crates of the prior art have had either (a) no horizontal top wall, in which case the sides must be very high to prevent the escape of the sow, and with the disadvantage of difficulty in reaching over the high sides in order to reach inside the crate, or (b) they have had horizontal roofs making possible lower sides, but with the disadvantage that the horizontal roofs have been semipermanently fixed to the frame of the crate so that they interfere with an operator who might desire to enter the sows stall for (1) cleaning purposes, or (2) catching pigs. By semi-permanent, I mean attachment by chains or bolts has been common, either of which take a lot of time to remove. My top wall is truly an easily removable lid because upon opening of either door, my lid will freely hinge at the other end for easy opening. With my invention, the unlocking and opening of the door releases or unlatches the lid automatically. The importance of this time-saving feature of both automatic lid release and automatic lid locking is not to be measured in terms of one stall, but it is common to have 40 stalls in a row. Quite often farmers wire their lids down and then the untwisting of wire on 40 stalls can be a time-consuming nuisance, eliminatable by my invention.

A new feature hereof is to have hooks on the doors which normally hold the lid closed, but which will release the lid when either door is opened.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is perspective view of the farrowing crate of this invention shown with the door open and the lid being shown in dotted lines in a partially raised position.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of one end of the crate with the door shown in closed position in full line and in an open position in dotted lines.

The farrowing crate of this invention is generally indicated at and has side wall means generally indicated at and comprising two upright spaced side walls 24 and 26.

3,509,854 Patented May 5, 1970 Suitable supporting means generally indicated at 30 and which can be a pair of struts 40 is operable correlated with the side walls 24 and 26 for supporting the side walls in an upright position.

The struts 40 can be fixed to and interconnect the lower ends of end posts 50" of the right side Wall respectively with end posts 52 of the left side wall. Suitable means can be provided for closing one end 72 of the farrowing crate sufficiently to prevent escape of a sow from between the walls 24, 26. Such a means can comprise a door 70 which is identical to the door at the end '82 of the crate and which will be described in detail.

The door 80 is mounted by hinges 86 to a post 52. The hinges 86 each have a vertically extending portion 88 protruding upwardly from the horizontal portion 90 attached to the post 52. Each hinge 86 further has a collar 98 fixed to the door 80- so that the door can swing on the portions 88 and also so that the door can be completely removed from the end portions of the crate, when desired.

The door mounting means 84 not only includes the hinges 86, but further includes a door retainer 100 fixed to a post 52 adjacent the door and extending outwardly from the post 52 into a position overlapping a suitable part of the door such as an uppermost edge 102 thereof.

Suitable releasable securing means 120, which is preferably a chain 120, is provided extending through the door and around that post 50 which is opposite the post carrying hinges 86.

The releasable securing means or chain as a matter of the terminology hereof, is a part of the total door mounting means 84, and it is understood that the chain 120 has a hook on it 124 so that when it is released, the door can be swung open.

A lid 200 is provided extending across the top of the crate and filling the area between the side walls 24 and 26 sufiiciently for preventing a sow from escaping from the upper side of the crate at times when the lid is closed or in a downward generally horizontal position, as shown in full lines in FIG. 1.

The lid 200 has horizontally extending projecting portions 202 at each of its corners and which are received each in a recess 230 at the top of a respective one of the posts 50 or 52, the recess 230 being bounded on two sides by the sides of an angle iron 234 and 236 from which the posts are made and bounded on a third side by a nib 2'40 extending upwardly from an uppermost horizontal side rail 250.

At times when the door 80 is open, the lid can be raised upwardly freely out of the open upper sides of the recesses 230.

Since the door 70 at the other end of the crate is identical to an observer facing it as is the door 80, and the respective ends of the crate are similarly formed to an observer in each of these positions, therefore, it will be seen that in operation, the lid can be swung upwardly at either end as desired and whichever end is not swung upwardly will serve as a hinge or pivot by allowing the portions 202 of the lid to rotate in the recesses 230.

At times when the lid is in a lower position for closing the top of the crate, the portions 230 are then prevented from being raised upwardly by hooks or inwardly projecting protrusions 280 fixed to the inner side of the door 80 in positions for extending above the lid portions 202 at times when the door is closed for overlapping the lid portions 202 and thereby preventing the portions 202 from being raised upwardly out of the recesses 230 to keep the lid from being pushed upwardly by the sow.

The doors of the crate can be provided with bumpers 340, one of which is shown. The bumpers 340 project inwardly from the inner sides of the door and are held in place by braces 342.

It will be seen that the side edges 400 of the lid are disposed adjacent but spaced upwardly from respective side walls 24 and 26.

In addition, the side edges 400 are also space horizontally inward from the adjacent side walls 24 and 26 respectively, as seen in top plan view.

This spacing inward serves the purpose of economy of materials for the lid 200. The spacing upward, however, is for the different reason of causing the humped lid, to allow the sow more room as a matter of height, and yet attaining this vertical room or height without side walls of equivalent height. This means then that in operation the side walls can be much lower than would otherwise be the case so that the operator can conveniently step over them, as he must, in order to step into pigcreep areas. Or, conversely, the operator can reach over the lower side walls much more easily than would otherwise be the case.

It will be seen that the door 80 is reversable. It can be turned upside down, and at times when it is placed on the crate in the reversed position to that shown in FIG. 1, then an open space 700 which is normally at the top of the door is then at the bottom, so that piglets can escape therethrough to get out of the crate as is sometimes desirable.

In order to make reversing of the door possible similarly spaced hinged portions 98 are also secured to the door on its opposite edge 702.

The bottom 104 of the door has inwardly projecting protrusions 280 at times when the door is installed with its bottom side 104 upward.

It is important that the hinged portions 98 be so disposed that when the door is in open position the door can be lifted without the hinged portions or collars 98 striking the door retainer 100. This is accomplished by the door retainer 100 being disposed inwardly from the respective hinged portions 98 as seen in top plan view in FIG. 2 at times when the door is open, the door being partially shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2 with the remainder of the door being broken away.

Referring to FIG. 2, a lid is there shown with what can be called a lid retainer assembly generally indicated at 400 comprising pairs of elongated projecting portions 202, each pair being at a different one of the ends 200. Each portion 202 can also be called a first retainer means 202 at an end of the lid.

The lid retainer assembly 400 further comprises a second retainer means 280 at the other end of the door and heretofore also called inwardly projecting protrusions 280. With this terminology, the lid is prevented from rising when the door is closed by the lid retainer assembly 400, preventing such excessive raising of the lid as would allow a sow to escape.

It can be further seen that each pair of the elongated projecting portions 202 are disposed in alignment with each other at a given end of the lid along a line extending from one side to the other side of the crate and transversely to the crate sides.

A lid mounting means is generally indicated in FIG. 2 at 500 and comprises the elongated projecting portions 202.

The lid mounting means 500 further comprises the elongated projecting portions 202 themselves, since the latter are attached to the remainder of the lid at that given end of the lid which is opposite a given door 80. Since the door 70 is identical to the door 80, the same is true of both ends of the crate.

The elongated projecting portions 202 project outwardly from the lid, forming parts of the lid mounting means 500, and it will be seen that those ends of the top side rails 250 which are disposed under the elongated projecting portions 202 can be referred to as projection portion engaging means 502 and are also parts of the lid mounting means 500.

I claim:

1. A farrowing crate having side wall means comprising two upright spaced side walls, supporting means operably correlated with said side walls for supporting said side walls in an upright position, means closing one end of said farrowing crate sufliciently to prevent escape of a sow, a door at times filling the opening between said side walls at the other end of said crate, means mounting said door on the other end of said side wall means in a manner for permitting the removal of said door from a closed position blocking said other end opening, verticaldoor-movement limit means securing said door to one of said side walls in a manner limiting vertical movement of said door but not preventing the swinging open of one side of said door, said vertical-door-movement limit means comprising an element on one of said side walls and an element on said door, said vertical door movement limit means elements limiting vertical movement of said door at times when said door is closed, a lid extending across the top of said crate and filling the area between said side walls sufiiciently for preventing a sow from escaping from the upper side of said crate at times when said lid is in a crate-closed position, means mounting said lid on said side walls in a manner such that said lid is supported on said side walls and such that the raising of the door end of said lid when said door is open ispermitted and such that when said door is open that end of said lid which is adjacent said door can be raised upwardly so that an operator can stand between said side walls at said door end of said crate and such that that end of said lid which is opposite said door cannot be pushed upwardly by a sow in said crate while said lid is in a side wall supported position, a lid retainer assembly comprising a first retainer means on the door end of said lid and a second retainer means on said door and disposed above said first retainer means on said lid, said first and second retainer means being disposed sufficiently close together that said second retainer means eflectively prevents such excessive raising of said lid at times when said door is closed'as would allow a sow to escape from the crate and yet permitting the raising of said door end of said lid.

2. A farrowing crate having side wall means comprising two upright spaced side walls, supporting means operably correlated with said side Walls for supporting said side walls in an upright position, means closing one an of said farrowing crate sufficiently to prevent escape of a sow, a door at times filling the opening between said side walls at the other end of said crate, means mounting said door on the other end of said side wall means in a manner for permitting the removal of said door from a closed position blocking said other end opening, a lid extending across the top of said crate and filling the area between said side Walls sufliciently for preventing a sow from es caping from the upper side of said crate at times when said lid is in a crate-closed position, means mounting said lid on said side walls in a manner such that said lid is supported on said side walls and such that the raising of the door end of said lid when said door is open is permitted and such that when said door is open that end of said lid which is adjacent said door can be raised upwardly so that an operator can stand between said side walls at said door end of said crate and such that that end of said lid which is opposite said door cannot be pushed upwardly by a sow in said crate while said lid is in a side wall supported position, said lid mounting means comprising elongated projecting portions attached to the remainder of said lid at that end of said lid which is opposite said door and projecting outwardly from said lid on two opposite sides thereof adjacent said crate side walls respectively, said projecting portions being disposed in alignment with each other along a line extending from one side to the other of said crate, said lid mounting means further comprising projecting portion engaging means engaging those sides of said projecting portions which are outer- 6 most on said crate, whereby when said door end of said References Cited lid is raised, the opposite end of said lid from said door UNITED STATES PATENTS will be prevented from sliding away from said door end 268 018 11/1882 Hicks 119 20 of Said crate by Said Projecting Portion engaging means- 1,168i836 1/1916 Vette IIIIIII: 119-2 0 3. The combination of claim 2 in which there is no 5 2 993 471 7 19 1 Meyer 119 20 element which is attached to either of said side walls which is disposed in more direct connection to a side FOREIGN PATENTS wall than to said door that would interfere with upward 1, ,993 11/1964 Germany.

movement of said pro ecting portions during raislng of the 10 ALDRICH F. MEDBERY Primary Examiner respective end of sald 11d. 

